The Additional Money Would Contribute to Lower Event Costs, Mobile App for Ticket Purchases

This year, the UCSB Arts & Lectures program is proposing a few changes to their regular program, including a proposed increase to their quarterly lock-in fee that will go toward making improvements to the overall Arts & Lectures program, including lower ticket prices and a new mobile application that will facilitate ticket purchases among other plans.

Arts & Lectures stated in a press release that the primary purpose of the lock-in fee will be to ensure “free and low-cost Student Appreciation Events,” such as two events this week, including a visit from “The Daily Show” correspondent John Hodgman on Tuesday and two showing of Spike and Mike’s Animation Fest on Friday. However, they also intend to use the fees for student employment opportunities, chances to bring artists into classrooms and the creation of a mobile application.

Heather Silva, A&L Programming Manager, said A&L strives for student engagement, and the two events this week will be an opportunity to gain more student attention. According to Silva, cheaper tickets will incentivize students to attend the events, especially during busy school weeks or activity-filled weekends.

“They have classes, finals, exams, social relationships and other kinds of commitments,” Silva said. “For the most part, I find that a lot of our students are highly accomplished and they have a lot of commitments because they are interested in different kinds of things.”

While she said this is a “great thing,” she also said it becomes difficult for students to “parcel out some of that time to come” to A&L events. According to Silva, Student Appreciation Events are specifically designed to appeal to students, as opposed to some of the other performances and events offered throughout the year that appeal to different audiences. This particular element is a larger portion of the reason why the events are offered at lower prices than some of the other performances or lectures provided by A&L.

“We serve both campus and community members, so it’s our mission to provide events that are diverse enough that we appeal to a wide variety of people in Santa Barbara proper,” Silva said. “For our campus events, we also try to make sure that we have events quarterly that really appeal to students.”

Regarding the new mobile application specifically, however, Silva said it will allow students to purchase tickets more easily.

“We are going to be using the money to also help provide a mobile-base ticketing platform for ticket purchase,” Silva said. “Students will be able to purchase tickets for our events on their phones, which I think is really exciting.”

Jake Orens, a third-year economics and accounting and communication double major as well as an off-campus senator for Associated Students, sits on the A&L Student Advisory Committee. He said he supports the increased lock-in fee, which he believes benefits the students specifically for the lowered ticket prices.

“I like Arts & Lectures because it provides me the opportunity to see some really cool performances and speakers at an affordable price for my friends and me,” Orens said in an email. “It’s always so easy to buy tickets online for a group of people, and the student pricing really helps.”

Communication Dept. graduate student Becky Robinson said cheap prices for student tickets have been a considerable factor in her ability to attend A&L events.

“Through Arts & Lectures, I’ve had the opportunity to attend events ranging from ballet to Neil deGrasse Tyson,” Robinson said. “I never would have been able to attend these events were it not for A&L’s student ticket pricing, and it shows they really value the students of UCSB.”

 

A version of this story appeared on page 4 of Monday, March 31, 2014’s print edition of the Daily Nexus.

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